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(antiques)

Susan Bones likes antiques. She makes a point to go into one Muggle antique shop a week, all over London, and she can spend hours in them, just looking at the little ornaments and brooches someone sold or gave away.

She has a fascination with the vintage dresses hidden at the back of all the antique shops and Theodore Nott finds her in the changing rooms, trying on a cream dress with a high neck line and a cinched waist and Theo thinks she is beautiful.

"Theo!" She spins around and smiles widely and Theo tries to ignore his heart beating out of his chest.

"Uh, you told me to meet you at the park down the road?" He scratches his head because if his father were not in Azkaban he would be tortured for coming into a Muggle shop, and even more for talking to Susan Bones, the niece of two people who were killed for opposing the Dark Lord.

Susan claps a hand to her forehead.

"Oh my gosh, I did too. I am so sorry. I'll just buy this, and we'll go."

He hurries out of the shop and waits on the footpath, because just standing in the shop feels like a betrayal to his family and friends.

Not for the first time, he wonders how he even became friends with Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff. It was during their last year, after she crept into the dungeons to try and free one of the girls who were in a cell overnight.

Theo was on guard duty, but seeing Susan scared witless, her auburn hair escaping a messy bun and wearing a shirt which enveloped her body, Theo couldn't hex her or stop her from doing anything, she seemed to fragile and he knew she was good at hexes herself.

"Thank you." She had whispered and he had nodded and they had understood one another.

"Ready to go?" Susan asks, skipping out of the shop, bringing Theo back to the present.

"Where exactly are we going?" He replies, following her and shoving his hands in the pockets of his Muggle jeans.

Susan just taps her nose and winks at him, giggling when he rolls his eyes good naturedly.

Much later, they are lying underneath a tree in the park, the green grass around them and the birds flying by. He is trying to sleep and Susan is bored.

"Theo?" she whispers, rolling over to face him and brushing the hair out of her face.

"Susan?"

There is a beat of silence for a moment and then she responds.

"Never mind." She closes her eyes, and he opens one to look at her before closing it again.

"I'm glad you're my friend Theo."

She reaches over to grab his hand, but he flinches and sits up quickly.

"I'm sorry," Susan sits up too, "I forgot."

"Never mind. I – I think I have to go."

He stands up and starts walking away. He may have changed over the past year or two since the battle, but the nightmares and fear of being touched are still there and he can't help it. Even with Susan he has to control his fear and anger and sometimes it gets too hard.

"Theo!" She calls out to him, and he can hear someone running to catch up with him.

"Susan, I can't do this right now."

"Well, bully for you Theodore Nott. Do you know what I can't do? I can't pretend that you don't scare me, because you do. I can't pretend that it wasn't your father who killed my uncle all those years ago because it was and I most certainly can't pretend that I don't just want to be your friend, because I want to be so much more than that. You think you're a torn, horrible person for having a shitty dad and believing what he said your whole life, and you need to stop! Because you have been there for me since Ernie died and you are amazing."

"Susan - "

"Shh." She whispers, coming towards him. "Please just tell me how you feel."

He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Merlin, Susie I can't do this right now."

"Fine." She walks away.

And that's when Theodore Nott, son of a Death Eater, member of the Inquisitorial Squad and reformed bad boy realises what he should have realised a while ago.

Susan Bones fits in his life, just like he fits in hers and he likes her. He likes how her hair falls over her face in the rain, and how clumsy she is, how she giggles and occasionally snorts when something is funny. How she swears whenever she's upset and how her face lights up when she sees him.

So he runs after her.

"I'm sorry." He tells her, grabbing her arm and facing her.

She just arches an eyebrow.

"You mean everything to me, and that's really hard for me to admit, and I really didn't want to stuff up our friendship and so I didn't say anything and now I'm just being a dick, and I really want to be your boyfriend." He rushes through the sentence and looks at the ground, which means he looks at her because he is much taller than her and they are standing so close together.

She kisses him. His mouth is hard against her own and she doesn't touch him anywhere else apart from his lips and slowly he cups her face and the kiss deepens.

She threads her fingers through his afterwards, as they're walking out of the park, and Theo can't get the silly smile off his face.

"So, wanna go to another antique shop?" She asks innocently and Theodore just shakes his head and lets her lead him through the streets.