"Can I sit with you?" Theodore Nott opened the compartment door. A smirk was lifting up the corner of his mouth. "Alone, if possible?"
Annelyse looked at Selena for approval. The blonde had a confused smile as she sat up. "I'll be outside."
"Solomon and Vesuvia are in the third compartment," Theodore pointed towards the back of the train. "You don't have to wait on your own."
"Alright," the girl smiled a bit brighter.
As the door closed, Theodore's expression changed to one of arrogance and superiority. Anna noticed, dropping the polite act as well.
"What can I do for you, Theodore?" She had found the boy much more agreeable when he was shy and reserved. This attitude combined with his facial features reminded her too much of a Malfoy.
Theodore shrugged. "Not much. I think it'd be a mutual favor."
"Do explain," Anna insisted.
"Well, for starters," the boy cast Silencio over the compartment. "Your father will be returning home soon. I also know what you've been doing with Snape-"
"What would that be, if you don't mind?" Anna didn't want to believe that the connection between the two phrases was the one she thought it was.
"You don't have to pretend with me, I don't care. I'm just telling you that I know because I've seen you sneaking around a lot. I mean, it's your business, but I doubt your father will see it this way."
Anna sighed. "What are you implying?"
The boy rolled his eyes. "Come on! You're not fooling me. I've been doing the same thing!"
"Which is...?" she insisted.
Theodore held his hands in front of him and intertwined his fingers. "You know..."
Raising an eyebrow, Anna leaned in closer. "I don't think I do."
"Really? You're spending the whole entire day with him, all alone, in his office, while his quarters are - conveniently - in the back."
The brunette nodded, trying to maintain her calm on the surface. "Studying."
"Biology," the boy attempted a joke.
"No," she frowned in faked confusion. "Potions, transfiguration and charms, history, philosophy, literature and poetry, astronomy, defense against the dark arts, herbology - oh, well, I suppose that counts as biology."
"I mean anatomy," Theodore specified with a hint of amusement.
"Healing potions and spells, yes," Annelyse emphasized.
"Fucking!" the blond blurted out, biting his lip as he spoke.
"What?!" Anna drew back, eyes wide and a million thoughts through her head.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Theodore slapped his hands over his knees and leaned back into his seat. "It's when two people-!"
"I know what it is!" she interrupted him, earning a chuckle from the boy. "What I meant to ask was why would you assume that. You do realize those are serious accusations that could end his career."
"Oh, really? I had no idea," he rolled his eyes. "If you're not lovers, then why on earth would you be sleepwalking at two in the morning from his office to our common room?"
"I must have stayed late on a few occasions studying or playing chess," the girl tried to make it seem like the most casual answer.
Theodore smirked. "Horizontal chess?"
"Wizarding chess," Anna rolled her eyes. "How would you know, anyway?"
"Because I was waiting for you to leave the halls so I could, too. I was heading back from the Hufflepuff House."
"What were you doing there?"
"Fucking, I just told you," the blond opened his coat and took out a cigarette. He placed it between his lips to light it.
Bothered, Anna turned to look outside. "Can't you use another word?"
"Do you want euphemisms? Synonyms? Idioms? I was doing the horizontal tango, going south of the border, stuffing the turkey, exploring the cave-"
"Please stop," the girl sighed heavily. She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head slowly. "I swear you were far more agreeable before..."
Theodore smirked and shrugged. "I can be rather agreeable, I'm just having a good day and I thought I should enjoy it. Here's the deal - we're going to pretend that we are dating. I will convince my father, so you don't have to worry about that part. This summer, I'm going to ask for your hand and you are going to say yes. Once engaged, it's going to be a matter of time before the wedding, and then it will be smooth sailing from there."
Still disturbed, Anna crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't want another arranged engagement. "What makes you think I will say yes?"
"Mutual advantage. It's very simple. First, from your perspective, you get to marry me, the Nott family heir. Your father will agree to this, he has no reason to turn me down. This way, he can't force you to marry anyone else, so in a way, it's your choice. Also, I am quite certain it will distract him from your affair with Snape."
"For the last time, Theodore, I do not have an affair-"
"Then you must be dumb," he puffed from the cigarette. "Frankly! He's an attractive man, I get it - trust me! And I'm not the only one. If you would spend some time socializing with the rest of us in Slytherin, you would no doubt hear about it. Tall, great posture, heavy steps, deep voice, oozes authority, piercing gaze, and did I mention his voice? Merlin, I'd let that man turn me inside-out as long as he kept talking! Just the other day I heard a discussion about shoe sizes and dicks." Noticing how uncomfortable the girl was, he laughed. "You'll get it once you sleep with him. There is a direct correlation between one and the other, take my word for it."
Deciding this was too much for the present moment, Anna tried to push it into a corner of her mind for later debating. "What does it have to do with us marrying, supposing I would accept your offer?"
"Well," Theodore stood and opened a window to let out some of the smoke. "If you marry me, I can guarantee we will only be sleeping together until you can give me an heir. Other than that, I don't really care what you do. If you want to fuck Snape, that's fine. If you want to live with him, that's also fine. We just have to go to events together and pose for the Daily Prophet on occasion. Heck, if you want your own business, I can arrange that - you're smart and ambitious, I can see you doing it."
"Thank you for the compliments, but I don't see how this arrangement would benefit you in any way."
"Image," the wizard leaned one arm outside the window.
"...Image?" Anna repeated.
"I'm a noble, pure-blooded wizard, traditionally Slytherin, related to the Malfoys, the Blacks, the LeStranges, the Gaunts, the Burkes, the Crabbes, and Salazar knows who else, to be honest. I am expected to continue a noble and pure bloodline, which implies that I marry a noble, pure-blooded witch from a family of similar status, and with whom I should have at least one heir."
The girl gave him a deep nod. "As we all are..."
"Having another type of relationship would be seen as a form of... betrayal and there will certainly be some consequences, like for the two stray Blacks, for example. Since Snape is sadly a half-blood, I can't imagine your father being too ecstatic about your relationship. Also, I am with Abbott, who, although pure-blooded, are traditionally Hufflepuff, and of lower status."
Anna gave up on trying to deny their relationship. They hadn't been intimate, but they had been dating for a while now. It came to her mind a number of times while with Severus that what they were doing resembled a date, but she never really gave it so much thought.
"My father is... quite different from yours. Do you think he'd be so upset if you were to marry Vesuvia Abbott?"
Theodore flopped back down into his seat, a bitter laugh on his tongue. "Vesuvia? Ah, no... She's lovely, just not for me. I'm in love with Solomon. I realized it about two years ago, but we've only been serious with each other for five months now. He doesn't mind either, you know? I was scared for a little bit that your friend Selena might steal him from me."
The nature of the arrangement began to clear for Anna.
"I heard rumors that Sirius Black was disowned because of this," Theodore looked into her eyes for a brief moment. "They found out he was gay, and his boyfriend was a commoner, impure too. I'm not sure if half-blood or muggle-born, but it doesn't really matter for our kind. You know how it is..."
"I thought it was because he had been sorted into Gryffindor," Anna thought aloud.
"If it had been, they should have disowned him much sooner, wouldn't you agree? There's a gap between his sorting into Gryffindor and the scandal. Of course, that's mostly speculation. After the whole Romeo and Juliet drama they've been through with Narcissa marrying into the Malfoy family, it's self-understood they'd try to keep the dirty laundry inside."
Silence fell over their compartment for a couple of moments. Anna went over the recent events and their implications, her relationship that had to be kept a secret, the possible reaction of her father should he find out about it, the mission she didn't get to complete with Severus at the pleas of Lucius Malfoy... Should she trust Theodore with it...?
"So, what do you say? I've already talked this through with Solomon. He agrees if you do."
Memories came back and suddenly began to fit into a larger puzzle. Theodore always asked Anna to dance at every ball or party. He was awkward and didn't seem very involved in the interaction. He was always polite, without overstepping any boundary of formality. Anna enjoyed this sort of interaction at the school dances because she couldn't possibly dance with her professor and... Theodore never tried to force physical contact of any sort. He had his moments when he was too persistent with his presence, but that would never compare to how Balthazar Blackwood would run his hands up and down her body back when they were engaged.
Anna would have liked to ask Severus about this proposition. However, Theodore was correct about the timing. Her father will likely wait for her at the Manor. There was no time to send out a letter and wait for a reply.
"What will Solomon do?"
"The same thing," Theodore sighed. "He's going to have to marry a girl so people won't suspect a thing about our relationship."
She nodded slowly. "We have a deal, with one condition."
Slightly amused, the boy smiled brightly. "Say it."
"Selena will not be that girl," she said in a serious tone. "Please talk to Solomon so he will not go for Selena. I want her to be happy, and the stress of such an arrangement would be too much."
"He does like her..." Theodore took a moment to consider it. Maybe Solomon will eventually like Selena more than he liked him. "I'll make him drop it, but you have to talk to Selena to make it easy."
Annelyse nodded. "In that case, we have a deal."
"Great!" Theodore laid down on the bench he had been occupying.
Suddenly, he burst into laughter.
"By Salazar's locket," he exclaimed, "this must be the most Slytherin discussion I've had this year! What other house would have the nerve to negotiate their lives as we do?"
Sighing, Anna leaned closer to the window, watching the sunset. "...The madhouse, perhaps."
"You're no fun," the blond took out a second cigarette from the support he carried in his inner pocket.
Two massive wooden doors swung open. The force of the impact left the hinges moaning. Small, wide feet struggled to rush over the marble floor. Leaning from one side to the other, with a slight limp, and about half his width measurements, Siberius cleared his throat to announce that he had arrived back. His old clothes hung from his shoulders without shape. He had poked a hole into his belt that ended up misaligned and looking more like a slit. His watch was nearly falling off his hand. It appeared that he actually did have a neck, visible for the first time in decades. An uneven, shaggy beard, hollowed cheeks, and dark circles under his eyes made him look much older than he was.
"Where is everyone?! Whiskey! Bring me whiskey!" he demanded from the lobby.
Three house-elves immediately showed up, down on one knee, with their faces to the ground. They each held a tray of gold, with a different type of whiskey, a glass, and ice cubes.
"Where is that bloody traitor? You!" he pointed to the elf on the right. "Answer me!"
The creature mumbled something. The second Siberius reached towards where he usually kept his wand, the elf peed itself in anticipation, even though the wizard was wandless now.
"HE VISITS FAMILY TO BERLIN, SIR!" the elf yelled, keeping its eyes shut.
The face of his master twisted in disgust. "Bloody bastards, taking everything I own... Everyone wants what I have," he mumbled to himself. The man slapped the elf in the middle towards the one he interrogated. "Clean up the mess!" He then went to the last elf and poured himself a glass of whiskey.