01 July, 1997 (11:58a.m, Monday)

Theo Nott beat her to the drawing room for dance lessons. If you're not first you're last, he thought. The Death Eaters and Dark Lord were meeting somewhere else today so the two of them had the room all to themself, plus the dance teacher of course.

"You're ten minutes late." Theo said when Scarlett walked in the room.

She rolled her eyes, "Theo, the instructor isn't even here yet. It's only 11:58."

"Well she has two minutes."

Scarlett sighed and sat down on the floor beside him, "Thanks for doing this for me."

He nods, "Obviously, was I supposed to just let you dance by yourself?"

She laughed, "I guess you could've."

He rolled his eyes, "Well I couldn't let that happen. Plus this is my chance to show off my fabulous ballroom dance skills. I had to learn it for the Yule Ball."

She looks over at him, "You mean the Ball where you literally sat at the table all night?"

He turned red, "No... Why do you remember that?"

"Because I sat there too. No one asked me to go either."

"Oh, plenty of girls asked me to go. I just said no."

She raises an eyebrow, "Who all asked?"

He shrugs, "Daphne, Astoria, Pansy..." He trailed off. He was lying.

"Daphne asked Adrian. Astoria went with Draco. Pansy asked Graham."

He rolled his eyes, "Okay, maybe no one asked me to go. But I didn't ask anyone either."

She smirked, "But I thought you were the cutest boy in Slytherin?" She teased.

"It was fourth year, Scarlett, I wasn't focused on dating anyone."

"Right, that started fifth year."

He opened his mouth to argue but a short red haired lady walked in, her hair was pulled back in a tight bun and she wore a long green skirt paired with a white shirt. "Sorry to run late, my Floo wasn't working, I'm Madam Sallow, I'll be your dance instructor for the next three weeks. You must be Scarlett.." She trailed off, looking at Theo, "I assume you're Adrian?" She asked.

He frowned, "No, Adrian couldn't make it. I didn't want her to have to have to dance alone, I'm Theo."

"How kind of you. Will he make it to the next practice?"

Scarlett shrugged, "I haven't heard from him so I don't really know."

Madam Sallow turned her nose up at that, how could you have a dance partner and he just decide not to show up to practice? Where was his dedication? "Well, hopefully he can manage to catch up."

That was all she said before she walked over to the two and stomped one foot down, "Theo, you stand here." She then turned to the blonde girl, "And you stand here. Place your arms around his shoulders. Theo, you place your arms on her waist. Your feet should be lined up with each others and you should stop staring at each other like you're mortified."

-

For the next two hours that two teens danced all around the drawing room, Theo spun her around until she was dizzy— much against Madam Sallow's wishes, but she'd given up on them. They'd learned what they needed to and she was losing her voice from complaining that they were moving entirely too fast. For the first hour and a half, they awkwardly danced around, barely touching the other, avoiding eye contact and keeping it to a minimum when it was necessary, then Theodore dipped her and she laughed, when he lifted her back up and began to spin her, the awkwardness seemed to melt.

Everything was going well until there was a knock on the door, it opened and another brunette boy walked in. "Sorry, I'm a bit late, just got home from France."

Theo turned and looked at the boy standing in the door and then back to Scarlett, "Want me to go?" He asked her.

She shrugged, "You can if you want, I know you hate ballroom dancing."

He nodded, "I think I'll head home then. I had fun."

She smiled, "Me too."

And with that, Theo Nott dropped her hands and walked to the door passing the boy on the way out, "Good luck, Scarlett has two left feet. She can't dance for shit." He joked.

Adrian scoffed, "Maybe for you, but I'm sure we'll do just fine. Goodbye, Nott."

Theo rolled his eyes and walked out. Quickly heading up the stairs to Draco's room. "You're never going to believe it!" He started, barging in.

"What?"

"Pucey showed up for his lessons! TWO hours late! Says he was in France. And he was an arse to me!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Draco, he's making your whole house smell like Sleekeazy. We need to get rid of him."

"So did Scarlett dance by herself?"

"No, she asked me to come dance with her so she could get the practice. I think it went well."

Draco rolled his eyes, "Of course you did." He mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means."

Theo shrugged, "Malfoy, it was a dance. I didn't drop to one knee and ask her to spend the rest of her life with me."

Draco changed the subject, "What did Pucey say?"

"When I left I joked that Scarlett has two left feet and to be careful and he was all like 'Maybe for you but we'll do just fine. Goodbye, Nott.'"

Draco groaned. "What does she see in him?"

Theo shrugged, "Don't know. I don't think he'll actually show up for the ball though. He was late today because he was in France. He's not a very dependable person."

Draco nodded, "I know, Mum already came and talked to me about it. She said she warned Scarlett. Too late for Scarlett to tell him she doesn't want him to be her partner anymore."

Theo looked out the window, "We could bribe him."

Draco turned to him, eyebrows raised, "Why are you so concerned about them all of a sudden?"

Theo stared at him, racking his brain for an answer. It was a question he didn't even know the answer to. "I mean, Draco, I've known her my whole life. She's your cousin. Obviously I care about her, the same way I care about you."

Draco blinked, that seemed to be a good enough answer because he didn't have any follow up questions. He was a little shocked that Theo was so honest about it. He expected a lie.

Theo sat down at his desk, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill. "We could tell him the date has changed."

Draco shook his head, "He won't believe it, I'm sure of it. This ball has been planned for months, no way the date would get changed this close to it."

"We could offer him money."

"We'd have to offer him and his father money in that case."

Theo sighed, "I don't know then."

"I think we should just prepare for the worst— he probably won't come. Scarlett will be devastated but she doesn't have to be escorted in. She doesn't have to dance either."

Theo frowned, "Draco, every girl gets escorted in. They all have a dance. You know this. You did Astoria's."

Draco groaned and fell backwards on his bed, "Why do we bother trying to explain shit to her? She never listens."

It was quiet for a second before Draco sat up, "Wait a second... We saw Adrian last night. He wasn't in France. He was just running late."

Theo turned to him, "You're right. That lying arsehole."

-

Scarlett was once again laying outside on a blanket reading a book. She had been done with her dance lessons for a few hours and decided to spend the rest of her afternoon reading. She was almost finished with her book when a shadow appeared over her.

Theo Nott.

She rolled her eyes before sighing and looking up at him, "Can I help you?"

He frowned, "Wow, Scarlett, I really thought we had bonded earlier today."

She couldn't let her act up now, she was too far in. She gave him a fake smile, "You thought wrong, Nott. I do thank you for helping me practice but you won't have to again. Adrian assured me that he'd be on time for the next one."

Theo scoffed, "If he's not on another fake trip to France."

She looked at him confused, "What?"

"I'm not sure if the Muggle alcohol messed with your brain but we were at his house until early this morning. He didn't go to France."

The confused look remained on her face while she thought back to last night. Then she gasped, "That liar!"

Theo didn't say anything. It wasn't his place to.

Then she shrugged, "Maybe he had something important to do."

Theo's mouth dropped open, "That's it? You're just going to justify him lying just like that?"

She shrugged, "He invited me back over tonight. He said he was hosting a small party."

"Great," Theo rolled his eyes, "Another Pucey party. What time do we need to be at this one?"

"We are not going. I am."

Theo looked at her in disbelief, "Yeah, okay, if you think Draco or Narcissa is going to let you out of the house to go to his house alone, then you're insane."

She stared at him for a moment before a smirk appeared on her face, "Are you.. Jealous, Nott?" She asked, pausing halfway through for the dramatic effect.

He scoffed, "No, of course not. I just want you to think logically."

She nods, unimpressed with his answer, but accepting it and looking back down at her book , "Whatever you say, Theodore."

authors note:
scarlett malfoy you will ALWAYS
be famous <333 also i made an
account on tiktok where i've been
posting edits & trailers for this book
if you'd like to check it out @theonotts.wp