09 July, 1997 (3:37a.m, Monday)

The game ended not long after and everyone began to Floo home. Draco had started for the staircase, Astoria behind him, they were talking and planned to sit on the balcony for a few minutes.

Scarlett was in the kitchen getting water, her back was to the door but she heard someone walk in,

She had a feeling it was Theo so she didn't turn around.

"You'd rather pitch yourself from the astronomy tower before willingly kissing me, huh?" He asked.

She sighed, turning around, "Yeah, I would."

"Well, you're still alive aren't you? I see you haven't thrown yourself from it and we kissed a week ago, so I'm calling bullshit."

She rolled her eyes, "Who did you sneak into your house while your parents were home?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Well that's one way to change the subject. You jealous?" He teased, a smirk replacing his frown.

"No, just curious."

"Well, I don't kiss and tell, so I'm afraid that I can't tell you."

She scoffed, "You don't kiss and tell but you slam a glass down to make sure everyone knows."

He walked closer, leaning across the counter towards her, "Oh, did you think that was about you?" He asked, an amused grin taking over.

She blinked, "Well, what other girls have you kissed that have boyfriends?"

He shrugged, "I guess you're just not as special as you think, Malfoy."

She frowned, turning on her heel, she stormed out of the room.

As she reached the door frame that was a few inches past where Theo was standing, he grabbed her wrist, causing her to have to spin around, "Goodnight, Scarlett."

She yanked her hand free, "Goodnight, asshole."

She heard him laugh as she walked down the hallway.

Merlin, she hated him. She slammed the door to her bedroom and dramatically flung herself onto her bed.

"Well, how'd it go?" Astoria asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Scarlett looked over to the brunette girl sitting at the desk, "What do you mean?"

"I know you went to see Theo. So give me the details!"

Scarlett rolled her eyes, "I didn't go to see him, he found me in the kitchen."

"Okay, and did you kiss him?"

"No, I did not. He was an asshole." She proceeded to give a recap of their conversation which left Astoria squealing with her hands over her mouth.

"Do you know what this means?" She asked Scarlett.

Scarlett shook her head, "I have no possible clue what that could possibly mean."

"He's so into you! Like one million percent into you!"

"Astoria, I love you, but you're insane. He's just an ass who thinks it's funny to flirt with me. Just like he dramatically slammed his shot glass down and looked at me when he did it. He almost gave himself away. He just does everything in his power to annoy me. He's mad I'm dating Pucey, he was a dick during our dance lesson, he fucked up my chances of having a decent boyfriend. He just ruins everything. If he actually liked me he wouldn't be doing that."

Astoria groaned, "Scarlett, I'm not defending how he's treated you but you've seen the way his father raised him, I think he just doesn't know how to properly express how he feels to you. Like, his dad is shitty, everyone knows it, why do you think Mrs. Nott is always gone on trips? Theo has been raised in an environment where he's never seen how to properly treat someone that he likes. He probably thought you'd never find out that he threatened the boys and that if you did find out then you would've appreciated it. He's not a bad person, there's worse boys out there, and Theo's not one of them. It's not your job to fix him, but you've expressed your feelings to him very clearly and if he likes you like I think he does, he'll realize how badly he's fucked it up soon enough and fix it. Just give it a bit of time. You'll see. I'll be telling you I told you so in less than a month. I guarantee it."

Scarlett blinked, that was actually a genuine response. She wasn't expecting it. She had assumed Astoria would defend his behavior and justify it as him being in love. But this actually made sense.

Maybe Theo would realize it soon enough. If he valued their friendship, maybe he'd get it together and apologize.

-

Theo was sitting on the guest room balcony, he was staring at the sky, it was slightly cloudy but he was able to make out a few constellations. Draco had gone to sleep an hour ago and he didn't want to Floo back to his empty house.

His dad left for America, he had Dark Lord business to take care of, his mom was in Greece somewhere enjoying yet another trip. Why sit at home alone when he could be around his friends?

He sighed, his friend. He fucked up his friendship with Scarlett, he shouldn't have kissed her, that was strike one. He shouldn't have threatened half the boys at school, strike two. And strike three? Well, how he treated her tonight was definitely strike three. Who tells the girl they like that she's not special? What a dick move. He rolled his eyes, he couldn't believe he'd done that. Honestly, he was beginning to think that he's no better than Pucey.

Well. He was a step up from Pucey.  A major step up. Like he's at the top of the stairs while Pucey is at the bottom of the stairs. He nodded to himself, that was a good comparison.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked as he pushed open the balcony door.

Theo shrugged, "Nothing, just thinking."

"About your mystery girl that has a boyfriend?" Draco teased.

"A little bit. I don't think I should've done it but she deserves better than him."

"You want to tell me who it is?"

He shook his head, "Not yet. Timing isn't right."

Draco nodded, "I understand."

"The timing will probably never be right. I can't see it ever working out with her."

Draco shrugged, "Well, if it doesn't, then there's always more girls."

"Yeah, but she's special, I just don't want to fuck-" He stopped, there was a loud crackling noise.

Someone had apparated into the house. Draco turned around, "No one's supposed to be here." He mumbled.

"Could it be one of your parents?" Theo asked.

He shook his head, "Definitely not. It's too late. I'll go check, will you go see what the girls are doing. In case it's an intruder, don't let them downstairs."

Draco grabbed his wand and walked out of the room.

He quietly walked down the stairs and into the entrance hall.

-

Narcissa was standing there, she looked as if she'd been crying, "Where's Theo?" She asked.

"He's upstairs? Are you okay?" Draco asked.

She shook her head, "Christy is dead. Go get him. He needs to meet his father and Lucius at the Nott Manor."

Draco felt the blood drain from his face, "What happened?"

"Draco, please go get Theo, it's not right for me to discuss details with you when he doesn't even know."

Draco nodded, he turned around and ran up the stairs, Theo was standing at the door to Scarlett's room, talking to Astoria. Draco could feel his heart beating, what did he need to say? He cleared his throat, "Theo, my mum's here, she needs to see you, it's important."

Astoria looked to Draco, searching his face for an explanation but his expression was unreadable.

Theo frowned, "Is something wrong."

Draco looked down, "I think it's best you talk to her yourself."

Theo nodded, he hurried past him and walked down the stairs. Astoria turned back to Draco, "What happened?" She whispered.

Draco moved closer to her, "Christy is dead." He whispered, not wanting Theo to overhear.

Astoria gasped, "Oh, god." She covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.

He pulled her into a hug, "I need to go back down there, I need to be with him, will you be okay?"

She nodded, wiping a stray tear, "Will you let me know when you find out more?"

He nodded, he let her go and turned towards their stairwell, practically sprinting down them.

Narcissa and Theo were sitting on the couch, she had an arm around his shoulder and was talking quietly. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, it just kind of happened, "She was at the wrong place at the wrong time, Theo. Your father found her. The Dark Lord had sent some men to destroy a building a week or so ago, it was near where your mother was, but all contact between the death eaters and the Dark Lord had been lost for the past week so he sent your father and Lucius to go investigate and it turns out they were dead, the mission had gone wrong. Christy was there too. They think she was there as a hostage."

"So is she at St. Mungos? When can I go see her?" Theo asked, standing up.

Narcissa shifted as if she was uncomfortable with what she had to say, "She passed away, I'm sorry, Theo."

He shook his head, "No."

She nodded, "I'm sorry." She reached for the handkerchief that was on the table in front of her, wiping at her eyes.

He pushed his hair out of his face, "Why did they have her? How did she die? How long has she been dead?"

Narcissa shook her head, "I'm not sure, your father wants to talk to you about it. He and Lucius are at your house. Draco is going to go with you. I'm so sorry."

authors note:
feeling like a horrible person
for doing that. but i didn't realize
that his mother apparently
canonically died when he was
little so i had to improvise. also
google had three different names
listed for her so i just picked one.