12 July, 1997 (8:30p.m, Thursday)

Theo Nott was getting up and getting ready for his shower, he could smell something being cooked from downstairs and it smelled good. He couldn't wait to eat whatever it was.

So he went to go take his shower, hoping it'd be waiting for him when he got back to bed. He ran the water, took his clothes off, stepped into the shower, his arm didn't burn today, it was finally not so red and puffy, he took his time washing his hair and body, because today he didn't hurt. He felt a bit better.

When he finally got out of the shower, he grabbed a towel and dried off. When he walked out of his bathroom, there was no food on the bed. In its place was a note.

Dear Theo,

I understand how hard it is to lose a parent. I know we aren't on the best terms right now, but I'm here if you'd like to talk.

Draco misses you terribly by the way. He has no idea I'm writing this to you but he hasn't left his room since the funeral.

If you're up for it, maybe you can come visit him. Cissy and Lucius are away tonight.

XO,
Scar

After reading it, he threw the note onto his bed and grabbed a sweatshirt from his closet. It had some Muggle sports team on it, his mother had gotten it for him in America, it was one of the only casual sweaters he owned. He didn't want anyone to see his Dark Mark and he didn't want anyone to question why he was dressed in a suit, because the only other clothes with long sleeves that he had were suits.

So he settled for the sweatshirt. He walked downstairs, his father was sitting in the parlor reading The Daily Prophet. Theodore looked up at him, "Going somewhere?"

"The Malfoy's. I'll probably stay over." He mumbled as he walked over to the floo.

"So I take it your done sulking now?" Theodore asked.

Theo rolled his eyes, "I'm sure I'll find something new to sulk over soon."

"Like when a certain blonde girl dances with her boyfriend instead of you on Saturday?" His father asked, peering up at him over the newspaper.

Theo sighed, turning towards his father, "I don't like Scarlett."

"Whatever you say, son. But I can always arrange it with Lucius, we could set you two up to marry."

Theo rolled his eyes, "I don't want to be arranged to marry her. When it's time for me to find a wife, I can do it myself. I don't need your help."

With that being said, he stepped in the Floo and a few seconds later stepped into the parlor of the Malfoy Manor.

Scarlett was sitting across from the fireplace on the armrest of a chair, "I figured you'd show up sooner or later."

He rolled his eyes, "I'm not here to see you."

She blinked, she didn't expect his attitude, "Oh."

"Where's Draco?"

"In his room. You're a bit too late though, Astoria got here five minutes ago and went up there to check on him, so I guess you have to see me now."

He sighed, running his hands through his hair, "I'll just come back another day." He turned back to step into the fireplace.

"Did I do something?" She asked.

"What?"

"This isn't how you usually act."

"Well my mum isn't usually dead, is she?"

She blinked, "You're right, I'm sorry. I'll let Draco know you stopped by." She hopped off the chair and headed for the stairs.

He turned to look at her, "Scar, wait" she turned back, "Im sorry, I shouldn't be taking this out on you." He finished.

"It's okay, I took it out on everyone else when my parents died, I know how you feel."

He nodded, "Did Lucius really buy that car just to come to the funeral?" He asked, changing the subject, he didn't want to talk about his mother or death anymore.

She smiled, "He did, he doesn't even have a license or know how to drive."

Theo scoffed, "How'd he drive it then?"

"He charmed it. It's like a permanent charm. It drives itself."

"Well, would you maybe want to take it for a spin?" Theo asked.

"Um, absolutely. Where to?"

"I don't think you've gotten to go to the good diner Draco and I go to yet, have you?"

"The Shirley Temple place? No, I haven't."

"Well let's go."

She smiled, "Okay."

She walked past him to the door, she grabbed a key off the entryway table and opened the door. "I'll drive." She told him.

"Oh absolutely not, I don't care that it drives itself. You are not getting behind that wheel. I actually know how to drive a little bit so I can do it." He replied.

She rolled her eyes, "If you insist."

"I do, actually."

-

Theo and Scarlett were sitting in a booth in the corner of the Muggle all night diner.

Theo had ordered waffles, Scarlett ordered pancakes. They both ordered Shirley Temples.

He had his hands under the table, his right hand nervously fidgeting with the sleeve on his left arm. He wasn't sure if this was a bad idea or not. What was he thinking, honestly, why did he think this would be a good-

"So how are you doing?" She asked, cutting off his thoughts.

He nodded, "I've had better days."

She gave him a sad smile, "I know that this is the last thing that you want to hear, but it'll get better eventually. It takes a long time though, but it gets easier."

He looked up at her, "I don't even know why I'm upset. She and I weren't close. I saw her maybe three times a year. The most I'd ever talked to her was when she was home sick and I thought she was dying."

"Oh.." Scarlett blinked, "I thought you two were closer, I mean you gave the eulogy instead of your father so I just assumed.." She trailed off.

He shook his head, "They had an arranged marriage. I found her diary when I was nine and I read it. She hated him. On their wedding night they came to an agreement that once a month they would attempt to get her pregnant and that the second it happened and she gave birth to a boy, my father would pay for all of her trips around the world. He just needed an heir and luckily for her she got pregnant on their first try. He didn't need her. They didn't like each other in school and they didn't like each other for the seventeen years they were married. So he made me do the eulogy because I knew more about her than he did."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm a little surprised your grandmother agreed to an arranged marriage. She seemed really lovely, and there were lots of Muggles at the funeral."

He shrugged, "It was more of my grandfathers' idea. They lived normal lives, well I guess as normal as Pureblood wizards could have, but at the end of the day they were still a Pureblood family. So they obviously still uphold some Pureblood traditions. Elliot had a job in Muggle London even though he had enough money to live off of for centuries. Madelyn didn't want to work, her mother would've murdered her because it just wasn't right for a Pureblood woman to work, she'd been raised to host galas and tea parties. It would've sent her mum into a spiral. They were an arranged marriage too, but Elliot and Madelyn actually grew to like each other."

She nodded, "Did you see them much as a child?"

He shook his head, "Christmas and I'd stay a week with them in the summer. My father didn't want me around Muggles too much, he was afraid I'd grow to like them and ruin our bloodline."

"Oh, so do you think you'll be married off too? Since it seems to be a common thing for your family?" She questioned.

He twisted a straw wrapper into a thin ring. ""My father has already tried to do it, I told him I'm not going to be married off."

"Oh." She didn't know why but she felt an ache in her heart and had lost her appetite. Why did it bother her so much that his father has already been trying to find girls to marry him off too?

He changed the subject, "What about you? Tell me about your family."

"Well, my mother was Lucius's sister. She ran off after the first wizarding war. Everyone thought she was dead, so imagine the surprise when I showed up at Hogwarts."

"I remember that, the look on Draco's face was priceless. Crabbe had turned to him and said 'I didn't know you had a sister. Why didn't you tell us?' and Draco just stared at him like he'd gone crazy."

She laughed, "I'm sure it was a bit surprising. Lucius was definitely surprised. I've liked living with Cissy and Lucius but I can't lie and say that sometimes I don't wonder what it would've been like to have been raised by my parents."

"How did they die?" He asked.

She shrugged, "My mum always told me she'd tell me how my dad died when I got older, I've heard rumors that it was Death Eaters but who knows."

"Do you think your life would be a lot different if they didn't die?"

She nodded, "Oh, yeah. I definitely would've never went to Hogwarts. I lived in America. My mom wanted me to have a normal life. I didn't even believe her when she dropped me off at the train station. I asked her did we need to find a hospital for her because wizards weren't real. It was really different moving in with my aunt and uncle.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I love them to death but it was shocking. My parents were so different from them. But not in a bad way, you know. It was just different. I had been raised to love everyone and not to judge people and then I moved in with Draco and I saw how he interacted with Hermione and I was just shocked because if I would've talked to Mione like that and my mom found out she would've murdered me herself." She stopped talking, she thought she was rambling.

Theo nodded, "No, I get what you're saying. It absolutely had to be a crazy difference. Your dad went to Ilverymorny right? The American school?"

"Yeah, I think it'd be cool to visit there one day. Maybe meet some of his teachers, ask them about him."

Theo smiled, "I bet that would be lovely."

"Sometimes I can't help but to be a little jealous of Harry, like we have the exact same circumstances, but he's met his parents friends. He's close with his father's friends, when he got to Hogwarts, he got to hear all about his family and how they were such good people. But the most I've ever heard is that people think my parents were killed by Death Eaters. I just want to know more about them."

"Well, I don't know if this is what you want to hear but my father used to say that he hated having classes with your mom because she somehow managed to always score one point more than him on everything. He thought she was doing it on purpose somehow but he couldn't prove anything."

She laughed, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, he told me one day because I was telling him about how Draco is always in second place for everything school related, Hermione is always one step ahead of him. Of course my father had some choice words about a Muggleborn beating him, but overall found it to be a bit funny."

She smiled, it was nice to learn something new about her mother.

He looked up at her, "You know, we all used to make fun of your accent when you weren't around?"

She gasped, "What?"

"Yeah, you say things funny. I mean you've gotten better about it now, but you used to sound so American."

"Well, I am from there."

He rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean. What part of America are you from?"

"Well my dad is from Connecticut but they raised me in Tennessee, up in the mountains. We lived in a cute little cottage. They wanted to keep me far away from what was going on here and they didn't want anyone to know I existed. I mean it's not like the Malfoy's were coming to America, so anywhere probably would've been fine, but we lived so far from away from any nearby towns, high up in the mountains."

"Oh, so that explains your accent you used to have."

"What does?" She was confused.

"The way you drawled out your words."

She scoffed, "My accent wasn't that bad."

"All I have to say is be thankful Hermione wasn't in your classes. She used to correct Ron and I know she would've corrected you too."

She shook her head, "Well it's been five years now. I can say spells much better. I even talk differently."

"You still sound American when you say names." He informed her.

She raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Say Theo."

"You just want me to say your name." She joked.

"Nope! Say Theo, listen to how you say it."

"Theodore Nott." She tried listening but she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her sentence.

He laughed.

She scoffed, "What?"

"It's just how you say it, it's funny."

She rolled her eyes, "It sounded normal to me."

He slid out of the booth, leaving enough money on the table to cover the pay plus a tip, "Well, obviously, because you're the one saying it."

She laughed, "Whatever you say, Theo."

She followed him out of the diner and back to the car and the car drove them back to the Manor.

The car parked itself and Scarlett got out and climbed the ladder to her balcony and Theo walked in through the front door. They couldn't be seen together.

authors note:
i realized i never told y'all anything
about scarlett's life beside in the
prologue so here's some scarlett
lore. i was going to make her from
texas but then i realized i mentioned
in the prologue that she lived in the
mountains and i didn't feel like googling
what all states had mountains. the
only one i've been to and knew of with
mountains is tennessee (i know there
are more states with them. i just didn't
want to google.)

so i hope you all enjoyed this theo &
scarlett chapter before chaos erupts!