𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰!
act one, chapter eight
" 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒕, 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓
𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒆 "

𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕

"𝑰 𝑪𝑨𝑵𝑵𝑶𝑻 𝑭𝑼𝑪𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑩𝑬𝑳𝑰𝑬𝑽𝑬 𝑰𝑻."

"Not going to lie," Theodore replied, "neither can I."

It had been a mere twenty-four hours since Theodore Nott surprised the members of the drama club with his shockingly good audition for this year's performance of Romeo and Juliet. Not only were people astounded that he had it in him ─ the same boy whose entire personality is built around his popularity and Quidditch ─ but people were also suddenly very excited by the prospects of having a fresh new face as the leading male in their production. He could make the play a very good one it seemed.

But of course, as with everything else, there was one person who did not share the same excitement: Wyatt Buckley still wanted to pull her hair out twenty-four hours later and it wasn't until her two friends, Teddy and Rudy, nursed her back to a sane state with a cup of hot chocolate that she actually came to terms with the very real possibility that Theodore Nott could score a named role in her production. She had to repeat his promise that he would drop out if that happened over and over in her head just so she could get to sleep that night.

It was all rather dramatic.

But another person that was astonished by Theodore's audition ─ and slightly appalled at that ─ was Draco Malfoy, who now owed his friend ten galleons.

"So, be honest," Draco drawled from where he was shrugging on his Quidditch uniform from the changing room located near the practice pitch, "how much did you get laughed at?"

Theo had to swallow very quickly to stop himself from coughing up the water that had just trickled into his mouth. Draco wasn't allowed to see his smirk. Instead, he bowed his head low, his foot up on the bench where he began tying his shoelace very slowly.

"Oh, tonnes," Theodore lied. Some way or another, Draco would find out that Theo had a natural knack for acting, but now was not that time. "I think I may have physically offended Flitwick and everything he stands for."

There was a chorus of cackling laughter from the boys in the changing room, all losing their black robes for solid green ones as the clock ticked into their session time.

Goyle shook his head in disappointment as he located the rest of his Quidditch uniform. "Wish I'd been there."

Theo realised he would never live this down ─ even when these were the same people that bet he wouldn't do it ─ when Crabbe joined in. "Me too."

"You lot would just add to the masses of laughter," Theo rolled his eyes, thinking back to the day before when his fellow classmates actually applauded his performance and didn't ridicule him like he (and all his friends) expected him to.

"That's what we're here for, Nott," Daniel piped up sticking his out from behind one of the centred benches, ignoring his timid younger brother, Trevor who had seemingly lost his goggles when it looked as though it were going to rain. "To make a mockery of you, remember?"

"Yeah har har," Theo chuckled derisively, now fully dressed and ready to pretend theatre doesn't exist at all for the couple of hours he will now spend on his broom.

He took a step outwards so that Draco could see him more clearly. "But, it doesn't matter how much of a fool I made of myself yesterday anymore because I think you'll find that you owe me something, Malfoy?" He cocked his head to one side, making sure his friends took this as a reminder that the only reason he auditioned in the first place was that there was money involved.

Draco scoffed in response, his tongue poking at the inside of his mouth.

"I know it doesn't happen a lot, but you lost. Admit defeat and cough up."

Delaying his smirk ever so slightly, Draco spoke as he went digging for the galleons from the inside of his robes. "Can't wait to see you frolic about in Romeo and fucking Juliet."

When the Malfoy boy had found the money, he approached Theo slowly, as if the two were in a standoff. Theo outstretched his hand and after a moment of procrastination, Draco slapped the note into his hand.

Grinning with satisfaction, smug that all of this worked out in his favour no matter what his friends said, Theo pocketed the money and followed his teammates out towards the broom shed. "You won't be so lucky, mate," he said. "Don't count on it."

Now outside, the air was cold; prickly with the early chill of October and the fired-up Autumn season. The rain spat down on them in light droplets.

"Oh but Theo, wouldn't it be just great?" Draco sighed dreamily as the group of boys, except for Trevor whom they seemed to have left behind approached the shed ahead. "If we bet you wouldn't audition for a laugh and you actually got in?"

Theo trained his eyes onto the grey sky above, following the outline of the clouds that weighed heavy over their heads. "Everyone gets a part, Malfoy," he said plainly.

They crossed the lawn, the shed in sight. As they entered one by one, Draco stopped beside Theodore in the queue, his face relaxed, only showing the hint of a sneer. "But you won't just get a part, will you, Nott?" He asked. "You'll be right up there with the theatre nerds."

Draco then punched Theodore jokily in the shoulder, but it wasn't light. A sear of pain ran through Theo's arm and he gritted his teeth to appear unbothered by Draco's taunt.

Theodore thought about Wyatt and all her theatre nerdiness. For someone that had learned the hard way that selfishness is the only way to be successful in life, Theodore suddenly felt very sorry that he was ruining something that meant so much to her. It wasn't fair. And he had experienced a generous amount of unjust in his short lifetime.

He felt his jaw unconsciously tighten and so let his head sway to the floor to distract himself. Scoffing, regaining his high ground, Theo said, "Likely story."

But Draco ignored the sarcastic tone that laced his friend's words. In fact, the blonde boy had no time for Theo's jokes at all for once. Draco just picked up his broom from off the rack, his eyes drinking up all of Theodore's uncomfortable demeanour, before he brushed past the boy's shoulder, muttering as he went. "Exactly."

"𝑰 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑲 𝑰𝑻'𝑺 𝑨 𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑰𝑨𝑵𝑻 𝑰𝑫𝑬𝑨."

"Of course you would. You hear the word Christmas and go feral."

"Your point?"

It was lunchtime and the mail had recently arrived in a flock of swooping owls who had made their mess on the dining tables and fled out of the window a second later.

Rudy's mother had expressed her urgent request for her daughter to invite her friends along to a Christmas party the Paisley family ─ more like just Enid Paisley ─ were planning on having. Enid, much like her daughter, was a people pleaser and loved being a good host more than anything else in this world. It's why Wyatt is always happy to stay with Rudy over the holidays.

And so came her very strict letter asking ─ more like demanding ─ Rudy to invite all the friends she wanted to their house on Christmas eve so Enid could be the best host possible with the most possible guests to impress.

Wyatt loved this idea. Rudy didn't want that many people meeting her embarrassing mother nor did she know if she had enough people to invite to please her embarrassing mother. And Teddy was confused as to how the first day of October justified festivities talk.

"I still don't understand why your mum is asking about this in October," Teddy said, as he chewed on a chocolate chip cookie. "It's your birthday first, surely that's more of a priority?"

"Not when my uncle is offering to host."

Teddy paused for a moment, swallowed the remainder of his sweet treat, and turned to look at Rudy dead-on. "In that case, count me in."

It was safe to say that Rudy's uncle was . . . comfortable. And that means he had heaps of money, a glorious house and a chilled personality that Rudy was more than happy to show off all of the above to anyone who wanted to trek to Cornwall and back.

"Funny that when my rich uncle is in the picture you comply."

Teddy (and Wyatt for that matter) had had the pleasure of staying with Rudy's uncle on a fair few occasions. They got lost in the walls of his estate many times.

"Hilarious, I know."

The trio were just beginning their discussion on the possibilities for Rudy's birthday next month when another trio appeared in their peripheral vision.

Hermione Granger came up to Wyatt's side cautiously when she said, "Sorry to interrupt but Ron wants to know if he can see your Divination essay, Rudy? You know the one on Phyllomancy?" Hermione spoke agitatedly and they could tell, as Ron and Harry crept up behind their friend, that she wasn't too happy that she had to be the one to ask for Ron.

But Rudy didn't seem at all fazed by someone asking for her homework. It happened more often than not. After all, she was just about the only student in their year that understood and enjoyed Divination. She appreciated that Professor Trelawney was just as useless as she was mad but Rudy still seemed to ace every test they had.

Ron was not like this and thought it best if he got some assistance before he handed in a blank piece of parchment with his name and a title on it.

"Sure," Rudy replied, before fishing out a collection of notes from her bag and handing it over to the redheaded boy who then sat down on the same bench as Wyatt and got straight to getting this dreaded essay out of the way.

Following Ron's lead, Hermione perched down carefully beside Wyatt, Harry now serving himself some lunch at the Hufflepuff table next to Ron.

"Oh Wyatt, did you hear?" The girl in question was just about to ask if Rudy would hate her if she threw the girl a party for her birthday when Hermione turned to her with eager eyes. "Flitwick said he's planning to wait a whole week till he posts the cast list. Something about wanting to make the perfect decision."

Wyatt chuckled derisively, buttering a cracker now that birthday plans were no longer in deliberation. "That sounds like Flitwick."

"A whole week?" Harry questioned, puzzled by the lengthy time frame as he nibbled on the bowl of crisps in front of him.

Ron then joined in, briefly lifting his head from where it was bowed as he scribbled down an essay definitely not exactly like Rudy's. "Can't be that hard can it?" He asked incredulously, his forehead creasing.

Hermione's lips enveloped each other in response, looking as though she was trying to suppress a smile. "There was some unexpected competition though wasn't there, Wyatt?"

Wyatt turned her head to the side, catching Rudy's glance as she did, mouthing, "Please don't say his name." She was suddenly not all that enthusiastic to talk about the auditions that had just gone very well for her personally the previous day (excluding any annoying intruders, of course).

"I'm not fond of the boy but Theodore was great wasn't he?" Hermione whispered as if the words would get her in trouble.

And with Wyatt present? They probably could.

Hermione was always in good nature and Wyatt soon had to face up to the brutal fact that Theodore was likely to be cast as something, but it still stung. If Theodore Nott got cast in their play, he would never let her hear the end of it.

Wyatt granted herself a moment to gather her temporary rage. Sucking in a tight breath, she turned to Hermione, glowing in a fake, rather sarcastic grin. "Oh yes. Theodore Nott, famed actor and extraordinaire. Who knew?"

"I certainly did."

She had summoned him.

Wyatt couldn't find the strength to let her inhale out as she planned to. He just struck that kind of nerve in her, she supposed.

Still looking at her group of friends sitting at the table in front of her, ignoring the boy now hovering behind her, like the taunting figure he was, Wyatt cocked her head to the side questioningly. "Strange. Someone must have said your name three times in a mirror."

Theo watched as Wyatt swivelled in her seat to address him, her eyebrows poised in a glare, radiating the pure vengeance she felt.

"Were you just talking about me, Buckley?" Theo smirked, nodding to the five other students in the vicinity.

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?"

"Of course, I would." It aggravated her more than she would like to admit how there was no shame whatsoever in his voice. "Especially when I'm the lead in your little play."

"You wish, Theodore."

"You wait, Wyatt."

Rudy and Teddy, and Hermione, Ron and Harry all watched on as if this were some kind of entertainment ─ two adversaries in a stand-off.

They all thought the strange kind of tense silence that had settled between Wyatt and Theodore as their eyes burned into each other would go on forever until Wyatt clenched her fist and startled them when she spun back around.

She now wore a forced smile as she beamed at her friend in an effort to pretend that Theodore Nott hadn't just ruined her lunchtime and still was standing behind her with his hands in his pockets, and unlike her, unfazed.

"Teddy!" She exclaimed, waking the boy up as she got up from her seat.

Despite Wyatt staring into the eyes of Teddy Morley as she pretended Theo didn't exist at all, the latter teased her by smirking and saying, "Yes?"

Until now, it had never affected Wyatt that her best friend and worst enemy shared a name because Teddy was Teddy. He wasn't Theodore and he hated anyone ever calling him that. But now, with strained speech, Wyatt turned to the Nott boy and said: "I obviously meant him." A finger from Wyatt's hand now jabbed in Teddy's direction.

Theodore naturally knew that the Hufflepuff had never been referring to him and yet he loved to see her squirm as he continued to snicker tantalizingly. "Maybe not," he shrugged casually. "Or maybe you had hatched a new nickname for me."

"My mistake. Because of course I would do that." Wyatt said it with such a serious face, Theodore almost believed it. Until she spared him a sarcastic smile and turned back to the friend she originally wanted to speak to.

"Anyway, you said you wanted to go to the library, Teddy?" She asked, knowing full well that Teddy had no intentions whatsoever to do any of the homework he had been set until the final hour before they were due. She just wanted an excuse to get away from Theodore before she might have to spend time with him when he inevitably taunts her because of his successes in the drama club.

Her sanity is really relying on him dropping out immediately after the cast list is announced.

Wyatt stop. He doesn't deserve your acknowledgement that he might be perfectly fine at acting.

Teddy looked at her completely blankly and when Wyatt realised he wasn't getting at her hint for them to escape somewhere Theodore-Nott-free, she prodded again. "For a really long time?"

"Did I?" Teddy still had furrowed brows but upon a closer examination of Wyatt's wide eyes and strained neck as well as briefly glancing over at a grossly smug Theodore Nott, Teddy put two and two together. "I did, yes, you're right," he said, awkwardly getting up from his seat, knocking over the cutlery on the placemat in front of him in the process. "Lots of essays that won't write themselves." He addressed this to Theo in an attempt to sound convincing.

Delighted that Wyatt now had an opportunity to not spend time with Theodore, she giddily picked up her bag, while Teddy gauchely did the same, almost falling over when he hopped over the bench to get away from the table.

Rudy sighed, looking down for a final time at the letter in her hands, and then looking up at her two friends who were now relocating. "I have to come too, don't I?"

Wyatt didn't need to say anything ─ her face said enough.

But as Rudy removed the napkin from her lap, depositing it onto the table while she excused herself from the trio still watching from the sidelines, Theodore took a step closer to the table, lifting a finger as he spoke, "Actually," he said, catching on to Wyatt's not-so-flawless escape plan. "I just remembered that I too have lots-"

Wyatt cut him off before he could finish the sentence that she had already predicted the ending to. "Okay bye!"

Theo watched as Wyatt scurried away, her two friends trying not to have to run in order to catch up with her. He continued to watch, mouth open, interrupted, while they left the Great Hall and disappeared from view.

And all the while Theodore remained at a loss for words, Harry voiced his concerns before anyone else could say anything.

"I don't think she likes you, mate."

¨. ༢ ͎۪۫  ༊*·˚